ONLINE EDUCATION
Stride | May 15, 2023
The nation’s four million teachers inspire students to make the impossible, possible. To honor their extraordinary contributions—to students and the country—K12, a Stride Inc. company, announced a unique “Be Kind 365” campaign that highlights special acts of kindness toward teachers.
Beginning this month and continuing throughout the year, K12 is expanding its efforts to champion teacher-centered accomplishments, initiatives, and programs nationwide. The company is launching Thank My Teacher, a new tool that allows families across the country to send messages of appreciation to their favorite educators. And through a new social media campaign, students and families are sharing posts and experiences that highlight the special and unique ways they show appreciation and kindness to their teachers.
K12’s new Teacher Appreciation Week campaign comes at a time when 44 percent of new teachers leave the profession within five years. Beginning teachers with little to no preparation are more than twice as likely to leave the classroom after one year compared to their better prepared counterparts.
That’s why this week, K12 is also launching a new “Teachers Win” initiative that supports new teachers. As part of this initiative, every 2023 teaching graduate in the U.S. is eligible to receive a one-year paid subscription to the Stride Professional Development Center: an ever-expanding library of interactive, mobile-friendly courses designed by educators, for educators.
“Our goal is to help new teachers get off to a strong start to their careers,” said Darren Reed, head of Stride’s Professional Development Center. “We want every teacher to feel confident in their ability to achieve early success in the classroom.”
Additionally, eligible teachers at every experience level can receive six months’ free access to Stride’s Professional Development Center through the company’s Learning Solutions Division. Learning Solutions is also launching a new video series featuring the stories of teachers who are making a difference in their communities.
This company-wide Teacher Appreciation Week effort is a launching pad to shine a light on who teachers are, their core values as educators, their resilience and dedication, and their critical role in shaping the people that students become. As part of their personalized and holistic approach to education, Stride’s K12-powered schools provide students with access to a rich curriculum taught by state-credentialed teachers who are specially trained in online instruction.
Throughout the year, K12’s new Be Kind 365 campaign will promote different ways to show kindness and outline strategies for fostering positive mental health and wellness.
About Stride, Inc.
At Stride, Inc , we are reimagining learning—where learning is lifelong, deeply personal, and prepares learners for tomorrow. The company has transformed millions of people’s teaching and learning experiences by providing innovative, high-quality, tech-enabled education solutions, curriculum, and programs directly to students, schools, the military, and enterprises in primary, secondary, and postsecondary settings. Stride is a premier provider of K-12 education for students, schools, and districts, including career learning services through middle and high school curriculum. For adult learners, Stride delivers professional skills training in healthcare and technology, as well as staffing and talent development for Fortune 500 companies. Stride has delivered millions of courses over the past decade and serves learners in all 50 states and more than 100 countries. More information can be found at stridelearning.com, K12.com, galvanize.com, techelevator.com, and medcerts.com.
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TALENT DEVELOPMENT
PRnewswire | May 31, 2023
Anthology, a leading provider of education solutions, today announced that its market-leading Learning Management System (LMS), Blackboard Learn, has been named a finalist in the Best Learning Management System category of the prestigious SIIA EdTech CODiE Awards 2023. Developed in collaboration with educators, Blackboard Learn features a modern, intuitive, and personalized interface designed to engage learners. With time-saving tools and a streamlined design, it facilitates easy and efficient teaching and learning from any device and empowers learners and instructors with in-line data and actionable insights to help them drive improvement.
"Following extensive customer engagement and collaboration, we have significantly invested in the next generation of Blackboard Learn. We turbocharged development to create powerful new features that meaningfully deepen the learning experience for both instructors and learners around the world," said Anthology Chairman and CEO Jim Milton. "Achieving recognition as a SIIA EdTech CODiE Awards 2023 finalist is affirmation that our team's dedication to providing the most intuitive and empowering educational experience is paying dividends."
More than 200 new features in Blackboard Learn are powering the next generation of learning experiences. Informed by data, features like Holistic Student Overview provide a comprehensive view of a student's activity, progress, and performance. For instance, expanded visibility allows instructors to quickly identify at-risk learners and proactively support them when they need it most. Blackboard Learn was the first LMS to market with built-in features that empower self-expression and has transformed the test-taking experience with tools to reduce test anxiety like the ability to hide timers, reminders for unanswered questions, question filtering, and auto-save functionality. Blackboard Learn provides instructors with greater control over test displays and behaviors, enhancing assessment experiences through inline file rendering and customized feedback visibility.
"The 2023 CODiE Award finalists highlight the products and people who are out in front, leading their industries forward," said SIIA President Chris Mohr. "These honorees continue the proud tradition of CODiE Award finalists recognizing the most impactful products, services, and leaders of their time, setting a foundation for the next generation of innovators. Congratulations to all who received this well-earned acknowledgment."
About Anthology
Anthology offers the largest EdTech ecosystem on a global scale for education, supporting more than 150 million users in 80 countries. With a mission to provide dynamic, data-informed experiences to the global education community through Anthology Intelligent Experiences™, we help learners, leaders and educators achieve their goals by offering over 60 SaaS products and services designed to advance learning.
About the SIIA CODiE™ Awards
The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to celebrate the vision, talent, and advances in building quality products in the Tech Industry. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for Leading Innovation and Achieving Excellence.
About Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA)
SIIA is the only professional organization connecting more than 700 data, financial information, education technology, specialized content and publishing, and connects learners and educators. Our diverse members manage the global financial markets, develop software that solves today's challenges through technology, provide critical information that helps inform global businesses large and small, and innovate for better communication across the information ecosystem.
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TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Businesswire | June 02, 2023
Swing Education, an online marketplace that connects schools and substitute teachers, announced today $38 million in Series C funding. The funding round was led by funds advised by Apax Partners LLP (“Apax”), a leading global private equity advisory firm, and by edtech investment firm Reach Capital. The funding enables Swing Education to invest in its growth and better address the nation-wide substitute teacher shortage.
This financing follows a 2018 Series B funding co-led by GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Owl Ventures and a seed round from a consortium that included Social Capital, Kapor Capital, Moment Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Red House Education, and Edovate Capital.
Swing believes that every classroom deserves a teacher, and every student deserves to learn without disruption. Since its founding in 2015, Swing has worked to improve the experience of being a substitute teacher and made it easier for K-12 schools to grow and manage their substitute teacher pools. Swing currently works with over 2,800 school partners and in the 2022-23 school year has supported these schools in filling over one million instructional hours with substitute teachers.
Teacher vacancies are an ever-present challenge for school administrators, with 45% of public schools operating without a full teaching staff at the start of the 2022-2023 school year. While school leaders recognize the need for substitute teachers, improving processes around substitute teaching and investing in programs and tools that support substitute well-being often go unprioritized. Swing aims to fill this gap. By combining dedicated success teams and a comprehensive technology platform, Swing works to ensure that substitutes are treated better, which, in turn, attracts more individuals to the profession.
“We’re thrilled to have Apax Partners and Reach Capital as strategic investors,” said Mike Teng, CEO of Swing Education. “The need for substitute teachers is acute. This additional funding highlights the current strain on our schools and positions Swing to grow our impact, placing even more substitute teachers in even more classrooms.”
“Swing Education is a truly impactful business, bringing much needed digitalization to the substitute teacher staffing marketplace and making it easier and more efficient to match talent with schools,” said David Su, Partner, Apax Global Impact. “We’re incredibly excited to be partnering with Mike and the broader team to help grow the business and execute on our joint vision for the company.”
“Beyond broadening and diversifying staffing pools, Swing’s distinct marketplace model provides upskilling opportunities and unlocks innovative pathways to the teaching profession,” said Steve Kupfer, Venture Partner at Reach Capital. “Each of these goals aligns with our mission as education investors. We are thrilled to support the Swing team through this next stage of growth.”
"Even prior to the pandemic's amplification, the teacher shortage in the United States profoundly impacted the K-12 education system. Under the visionary leadership of Mike and Asha, Swing Education has built a transformative way for K-12 schools and substitute teachers to connect,” said Amit A. Patel, Managing Director at Owl Ventures. “Their technology platform has harnessed the power of data to enable a seamless match between teacher absences and qualified substitutes as well as ensure uninterrupted student learning."
Swing currently operates in California, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. and will use this latest funding round to grow its substitutes and school partners in these regions. Swing will look to expand to new regions in 2024.
About Swing Education
Swing Education is an online staffing marketplace that connects substitute teachers with schools. Founded in 2015 by former K-12 educators and administrators, Swing makes it easier for schools and districts to find reliable, qualified substitute teachers when they need them most. With over 300,000 absence days filled to date, Swing is dedicated to improving the experience of finding substitute teachers, becoming a sub, and keeping student learning on track. Swing serves over 2,800 partner schools across California, Arizona, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, New York, and Washington D.C.
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